Population Health Promotion: A Comprehensive Approach

This article discusses the importance of population health promotion and the role of nurses in promoting health through education, disease prevention, and positive psychology. It covers topics such as mental health, food security, and immunization.

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The government of Canada has established a mental health center in Ontario to help the mentally
ill persons in the streets. Positive psychology can be advocated by nurses to offer new approaches to
bolstering psychological strengths that enhance health promotion (Davies, et al., 2014, p. 112).
Psychiatrists and psychologists successfully identified, classified, and have been able to treat mental
illnesses and disorders among the community members who have been rehabilitated. Programs and
activities that promote positive mental health have helped prevent mental illnesses and thus providing the
overall well-being of the mentally ill. Research from different disciplines has suggested that positive
mental strength can be relatively measured and proper interventions can affect the state of an individual
affected psychologically (Gow & Mortensen, 2016, p. 165).
For there to be a successful implementation of a health promotion initiative, a devoted work plan
is fundamental. The initiative should tackle the challenges that characterize the the mentally ill in the
streets and those habiliated. The political, economic, and cultural environments collectively have a
significant effect on the course of allowing people to be in control of their health. Nurses do play a vital
role in formulating and promoting community health (Menec, Novek, Veselyuk, & McArthur, 2014, p.
178). The essence of health literacy programs is often focused on community and population strategy and
empowerment, emancipation, and collective empowerment; all that is at the heart of health promotion.
Community health is the study and improvement of the health facets of communities. Community health
deals with people who share some characteristics. From the concept map, mental health, education on
health matters, food security, and disease prevention are discussed in detail to demonstrate a
comprehensive health promotion concept (Batras, Duff, & Smith, 2016, p. 154).
The advancement of mental well-being seeks to foster the psychological strengths of street people
who are mentally ill and generally enhance their well-being (Baum & Fisher, 2014, p. 156). Mental
stability is the state of an individual's well-being and being in a position of realizing their capabilities
while being able to handle the day to day stresses. Mental illnesses include anxiety disorders, mood
disorders, and psychological disorders. Routine changes like reducing alcohol consumption, sleeping
more, and eating healthy may be a remedy for mental instability. Drug abuse has been seen to be

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significantly related to mental disorders or illnesses.
The establishment of the mental health center led to the improvement on the state of the mentally
challenged in Ontario. The advocacy of positive psychology paved way for fresh approach and view of
the people living with mental disability and consequently the enhancement of health (Taggart & Cousins,
2014, p. 45). Psychologists contributed to the advancement of mental health research through
identification and classification of the disorder and also coming up with prevention measures. Experts
say that we entirely have the probability of developing psychological problems, no matter our age,
gender, financial positions, or even the ethnicity that we belong to.
Education is a fundamental tool of outreach in health promotion. It seeks to change the attitudes
of individuals on matters regarding health promotion. To successfully participate in health education,
evidence should walk hand in hand with changes in perspectives and insights (Jolley, 2014, p. 156).
Training improves awareness of all health risks, and this is basic to the development of health and disease
prevention. Health education should be a part of any educational system and included in the teaching
programs of primary and secondary learning. It is the basis for the ulterior building of efficient initiatives
for health preservation and promotion (Oliffe & Han, 2014, p. 156).
Therefore, it should be adequately prepared and delivered like any other subject by the
educational system. Children's Asthma Research Institute and Hospital in Denver prides itself on asthma-
related education on prevention and management programs. After evaluation and analysis, there was an
improvement in the patients' attitudes towards the prevention of the disease spreading to other people.
Nurses have the role of providing education to the public for the efficient promotion of health issues.
Health issues related to the community ought to be efficiently transferred to the public. They must be
conscious of their well-being and behaviors (Baum & Fisher, 2014, p. 156). All the tactics are used so to
influence the public’s attitude, health knowledge, and practices to enable the successful enactment of the
communal health advancement design. Nurses are highly educated individuals, and anyone can access
them through a courtesy call, or they can give out health information. Health education is, therefore, part
of broader health promotion exercise.

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According (Batras, Duff, & Smith, 2016, p. 135), community food security is an essential
requirement for a healthy population. Population health is highly influenced by the food intake of a
household, which is then controlled by the resource endowment of the said household and the cleanliness
of the food itself. Public health promotion strategies must hence address all the food issues to make a
difference in the way people eat. Public Health of Canada agency, in collaboration with food inspecting
authority, confirms the cause of the food-related complaints when an outbreak is alleged. When cases
happen in numerous provinces, federal representatives lead the epidemiological inquiry. Besides, they
provide laboratory amenities, conduct food protection inquiries, and reminiscence actions (Jolley, 2014,
p. 143). Undernourishment and malnutrition are conditions that lead to poor health. Food security will be
achieved when people, always, have access to nutritious food in adequate amounts to meet their
nutritional needs for a healthy life. Food must satisfy dietary needs based on an individual’s age, living
conditions, gender, and occupation. Nurses have a role to play by ensuring people adhere to the right
quantities of nutrition combination. Food insecurity and hunger do worsen the effects of all diseases, and
it accelerates degenerative conditions. Community nurses should advocate for improved food production
policies in the communities that improve food production capacity to prevent health problems that result
from malnutrition.
Disease prevention is an essential aspect of the medical world. Funds used for treatment are much
more expensive than funds used to prevent. Immunizations are hence one of the most important health
interventions of the century. Many barriers to immunizations do exist. Cost, healthcare access, and the
concerns on the safety of vaccines are some of the factors identified had depressed the rates of global
immunization targets. Today, people travel all over the world for different purposes, and this improves
the risks of spreading diseases across the globe (Batras, Duff, & Smith, 2016, p. 56). Nurses can
participate in outreach programs and make immunizations accessible to all. They can also be a powerful
influence by spreading the positives of vaccines and help create the trust needed to take vaccines by
doubting masses. The promotion of health and preventing diseases is an approach that has increasingly
gained momentum and become a hallmark in the current world. It does not promise to end diseases
completely, but vaccines give hope of eliminating some chronic and acute diseases (Baum & Fisher,

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2014, p. 34).
There are three types of prevention criteria mechanisms: primary prevention, secondary
prevention, and tertiary prevention. Primary prevention involves immunization to prevent disease,
improved nutritional food intake while also improving the physical fitness of the body to avoid physical
disorders. Secondary prevention involves early detection of certain diseases and hence allows fast actions
of reducing adverse effects of a disease or prevents it from spreading to other people or affecting a person
adversely (Baum & Fisher, 2014, p. 56). Tertiary prevention involves reducing the duration of severe
conditions of a certain chronic disease once it has been detected by minimizing the suffering and pains of
an individual. Despite the actions taken to prevent disease, there is no accompanying data on an
individual’s extent on how informed they are on disease prevention or the causes of certain diseases,
actions they should take, or what they might do to prevent adverse effects in case of an attack. This is
where the nursing fraternity comes in now. They must educate every individual anda create campaigns or
awareness of the above actions (Jolley, 2014, p. 45).
Conclusion
Population health promotion is an essential aspect of fighting disease and suffering. Health
improvement purposes to discover ways of avoiding ill-health, remaining in good health, while also
promoting good and better health. Healthcare workers and policymakers have the responsibility of
planning and executing health strategies which boost well-being in diverse backgrounds with an equal
opportunity for services towards healthcare on individuals of different backgrounds. Nurses have to
intensify their effort towards advocacy of promotion of better health. There is a global acceptance that a
lot of factors determine social well-being and health. Emerging technological approaches are being
adopted at all levels to change complex determinants of aspects of health positively. Health advancement
can be viewed as a mixture of economic, organizational, educational, and political activities intended to
involve consumer contribution, to allow people and communities to increase their control over, improve
their health using the knowledge and other behavioral changes.

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References
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